There's an App for That! iDisney, July-Aug 2009. New 12/3: DONE!

[PrincessV]

We saw the Indy stunt show. Again.

And it was hot as all get-out, I might add. Even in the shade. Even with fans turning at full-throttle. HOT.

By the time we exited and made our way over to the Sci Fi for lunch, I was in bad shape. I was very close to feeling like I had years ago when I’d gone to AK in early Sept. and gotten heat stroke. Trust me, I’d done everything right: drank plenty of water, dressed in lightweight clothing, wore a sun hat… I was still way overheated.

So I ordered a beer.

Heh, heh. I really did, but only after downing a glass of water. What I really needed was AC, and I started feeling better within minutes of getting into it.

Parking our group of 15 was interesting; we wound up in a variety of cars…

Like the look on Leo’s face? Check this out…

LL will vouch for me – he looked like that the ENTIRE meal! We had Zombie Boy in the front seat of our Buick. And he was the driver, no less!

Once I figured out that the iPhone camera was better than the Canon in Sci Fi, I went to town. Sorry.

I just love that place! And having LL and Tony seated behind me was the icing on the cake – we laughed a LOT.

Sadly, Leo was not so impressed and declared Sci Fi off the list for future WDW dining. Rats.

About the food… the cardinal rule at Sci Fi is KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. This is not the place to get creative with your menu choices. I had a Reuben with onion rings and it was delish. I heard others’ burgers were good, too.



I believe that was pretty much the end of our MGM adventure. I’m not sure what happened to The Waldos after lunch, but The Mominators and V’s headed out and back to SSR. I’m not even sure we made it to Pool-Thirty that day. Why? It was HOT, remember?!

Plus.

We had a VERY exciting evening ahead for which to prepare! Stay tuned…


Next: I'm Watching You Focker! And you... and you... and YOU, too!

 

[cmp1111]

Plethora of Pixar. Whatever it’s called these days.

Along the way, Maddie grabbed my hand and announced she was riding with ME! Yay!

Aww...

Who the heck did he ride with?! Did anyone get a picture? I have no idea, lol!

Random stranger?

BUT, they gave him a FP to ride as soon as he was big enough. And that FP allowed others to ride with him. We were IN, baybee!

Nice!

Why not re-choreograph some scenes while they’re at it?

Makes perfect sense to me!

I was still way overheated.

So I ordered a beer.

LL will vouch for me – he looked like that the ENTIRE meal! We had Zombie Boy in the front seat of our Buick. And he was the driver, no less!

Was he scared or just zoning out?

 

[jcc0621]

Plethora of Pixar. Whatever it’s called these days. ​

Who the heck did he ride with?! Did anyone get a picture? I have no idea, lol!

Did you rent him gypsies?

, but I’ll let T tell that one. I’m sure she’ll post an update real soon.

I think the odds on that are 50-1 at this point

And it was hot as all get-out, I might add. Even in the shade. Even with fans turning at full-throttle. HOT.

ALways

Sadly, Leo was not so impressed and declared Sci Fi off the list for future WDW dining. Rats.

Leo, buddy....we need to talk!

About the food… the cardinal rule at Sci Fi is KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. This is not the place to get creative with your menu choices. I had a Reuben with onion rings and it was delish. I heard others’ burgers were good, too.

They have best Onion Rings!

Next: I'm Watching You Focker! And you... and you... and YOU, too!

​

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

I think the odds on that are 50-1 at this point

HEY! I'll get to it.... eventually. I've lost my mojo... I'll find it. Eventually.



Secretly I was hoping V would write about it. It's hilarious and we have photograph evidence to boot!


Ah, I love reading your TR, V. The memories are freakin' awesome! Hey, some how I missed an installment... bbl to quote!

 

[jcc0621]

HEY! I'll get to it.... eventually. I've lost my mojo... I'll find it. Eventually.

Aww, LY T BUt the odds just went up to 100 -1

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Sci Fi is the PERFECT antidote to heatstroke - cool, dark, and they serve beer. Wait, beer? Um... heatstroke + alcohol? Is that the recommended treatment? Yeah, okay, I'll buy that.

 

[Sooze]

Hooray for the iPhone camera! I love how you start each update with an iPhone shout-out, by the way! Probably because I own one, and I can completely relate to your excitement!!

My favorite thing about the iPhone camera is the ability to post to Facebook immediately. So you can just rub into the faces of your Facebook friends that you are in Disney World, and they are not! Neener Neener Neener!!

I completely agree with you about Indiana Jones. I had to FORCE myself to go see that with Tyson, and once we got past the opening sequence, I literally took a nap with my eyes open. Blah. I wish they could tie in something more relevant, too... maybe National Treasure.. or Pirates of the Caribbean? Move over Harrison.. it's Johnny's turn!

Great update, per usual! Thanks, V!

 

[jordanyosh]

Isnt anything that beats an Ice Cold Beer on a hot day...well maybe an Ice Cold glass of milk.....

Sci fi Reuben...mmmmm...

I agree with the Stunt Show which is why I don't think I've seen it in over 10 years.

 

[sorul82?]

Exciting evening?

 

[anewmac]

OMG every time I read your trip report I get excited, my contract is up in 10days with Sprint and on I move to ATT to get my iphone! I cant wait LOL I know Im a nerd LOL

Love that it takes great pics also... my camera phone is horrible right now. and MMM beer.. yummy I could use one now.

 

[DisneyJo]

All caught up and your lazy day sounds fantastic, just doing what you want where you want :cloud9

The girls love Sci-Fi what a pity Leo didn't, maybe he'll come round

 

[praisehisname]

I'm glad the AC (and the beer!) helped you cool down! Your Sci-Fi meal sounds yummy! I've never been there, but would like to try it someday.

Can't wait to hear about your exciting evening!

P. S. It *must* have been hot if you skipped Pool Thirty!!!

Denise

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Isn't it the best? I'm almost ready to stop planning at all. Almost

Perish the thought!

Excellent update! Loved the SciFi photos. The iPhone did an awesome job!

 

[PrincessV]

Random stranger?

LOL, who knows?!

Was he scared or just zoning out?

I think maybe a little of both. He wasn't terrified, but perhaps a bit freaked out.

I think the odds on that are 50-1 at this point

I agree!

They have best Onion Rings!

Yes, they're awesome!

HEY! I'll get to it.... eventually. I've lost my mojo... I'll find it. Eventually.

Need help finding it? I hear the trolley's good for that...

Secretly I was hoping V would write about it. It's hilarious and we have photograph evidence to boot!

I would have, but I'm not real clear on all the details. Plus, when I scanned the pic it was tiny. Hoping you have a bigger or electronic version!

Sci Fi is the PERFECT antidote to heatstroke - cool, dark, and they serve beer.

Wait, beer? Um... heatstroke + alcohol? Is that the recommended treatment?

Now that you mention it...

My favorite thing about the iPhone camera is the ability to post to Facebook immediately. So you can just rub into the faces of your Facebook friends that you are in Disney World, and they are not! Neener Neener Neener!!

Excellent point - that was fun!

I wish they could tie in something more relevant, too... maybe National Treasure.. or Pirates of the Caribbean? Move over Harrison.. it's Johnny's turn!

Ooo, great ideas!

Sci fi Reuben...mmmmm...

Exciting evening?

Yep - just wait!

OMG every time I read your trip report I get excited, my contract is up in 10days with Sprint and on I move to ATT to get my iphone!

Ooo, you're almost there!

The girls love Sci-Fi what a pity Leo didn't, maybe he'll come round

Isn't that weird? It's the kind of place I'd expect him to LOVE!

P. S. It *must* have been hot if you skipped Pool Thirty!!!

I know, right?! It was brutal that day, at least to me.

Excellent update! Loved the SciFi photos. The iPhone did an awesome job!

It surprised the heck out of me - who'd have thought?!

 

[PrincessAlways]

If this doesn’t scream “up to no good,” I don’t know what.
​

uh.........yep!!!! LOL!!!

But I’m kind of sick of seeing the same Indy stunt show at MGM over and over. Would it kill them to make a couple changes, make it relevant to some of the more recent Indy movies? I mean, there’s no way the entire stunt crew is the same as when the show first opened, which means they’re having to train people all the time. Why not re-choreograph some scenes while they’re at it?

Vent over.​

I agree with you. It's just getting.....no it is OLD!!!

And it was hot as all get-out, I might add. Even in the shade. Even with fans turning at full-throttle. HOT.

By the time we exited and made our way over to the Sci Fi for lunch, I was in bad shape. I was very close to feeling like I had years ago when I’d gone to AK in early Sept. and gotten heat stroke. Trust me, I’d done everything right: drank plenty of water, dressed in lightweight clothing, wore a sun hat… I was still way overheated.

So I ordered a beer.

Heh, heh. I really did, but only after downing a glass of water. What I really needed was AC, and I started feeling better within minutes of gettin g into it.

Glad to hear it didn't take too long for you to feel better! That is an awful feeling. It happened to me once in AK. Not fun! ​

​

 

[PrincessV]

Glad to hear it didn't take too long for you to feel better! That is an awful feeling. It happened to me once in AK. Not fun!

AK is the worst, no?

 

[PrincessV]

App of the Day: Zyrtec Allergy Forecast!

Okay, I actually found this one after the trip, but it’s so good I had to share! Leo and I are major, major allergy sufferers; knowing what to expect before we head out is a big help. I’ve used this app for a day at AK and knew to take the inhaler along. ​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woo hoo – I’m excited to write about this next part! It was a fun, fun, FUN night.

It was not, however, without drama.

It began with a meeting in the parking lot, where The Mominators and V’s piled into the Mominator-mobile, which is NOT a minivan.

From there, Tony drove us all to the Grand Floridian (GF).

And LL remembered out loud, as we approached the gate, that she’d left her room key… in the room. As had Tony. And also Michael.

I felt so badly for The Mominators! What a way to start the evening, wondering how in heck they’d get back IN their room later on. I’ll be honest – I’d have FREAKED. OUT. In a big, loud, probably-ugly way. Causing discomfort and distress to both my child and fellow travelers.

The Mominators - did not. They cursed their bad luck and moved on. You guys rock!



We were at the GF for a nice little dinner before our big, big night out. I’d booked the GF Café for us to try something new. And I’m sure glad I did!

First, while Victorian excess isn’t my cup of decorating tea, it’s hard not to be impressed by the GF. And the GF Café is an extension of that lobby look – very pretty, with lovely views of the immaculate grounds.

Second, the service and food were excellent. Really, really fantastic. Our server was attentive to our every need and personable to boot. Well done!

The food… was wonderful! Okay, I didn’t go with anything that complicated, but it was delicious nonetheless. I had the Caramelized Onion Soup au Gratin, which was their fancy way of saying “French Onion Soup.” Good! Simple, but good. With it, I tried the Golden Beet and Field Greens salad. I’ve never before heard of nor seen a “golden beet”, but it was the perfect salad addition! Really, I couldn’t get enough of that yummy, yummy salad.

Leo received the kids’ grilled chicken breast with broccoli and fries. Not without a great deal of, er… pressure from me. I was so thrilled to see REAL food on the kids’ menu, he never got a choice, lol! He tried to suffer in silence, but ultimately agreed that it was tasty. Though he proclaimed MY broccoli at home to be better. Good lad.

We attempted to get some nice pictures at dinner, but how did we miss LL?! I sure hope we got one with her camera.

Now, I’m not normally big on dessert; sweets aren’t generally my thing. But the fondue was calling me that night for some reason, and it really hit the spot! Lovely melted chocolate for dunking and perfectly-portioned little piles of strawberries, bananas, pineapple, and marshmallows. Mmmm.

I highly recommend the GF Café; it was quiet, pretty and yummy. We’ll return!


Much as I enjoyed dinner, I was equally ready for it to end. Why? Because soon after, it was time for a big ol’ meeting of the Fockers… AND a ditching of the kids!

Hee hee, the kids were all headed to the Mousketeers Club for the night. Especially on these long trips, it’s just heaven for the kids to get away from us parents for a while and hang with their own crowd. They, of course, receive excellent supervision courtesy of the amazing WDW Recreation staff, but they seem to feel like they’re on their own for a while. This makes for some very happy campers.

It makes for some very happy parents, too! Listen, I adore my child. But Mommy needs some Mommy time, right? And Mommy-time at WDW is the absolute best.

Especially when Mommy gets to hang with some super-special DISers.

For those who don’t know, the Fockers are a group of DISers who randomly found one another (mostly through TRs) on the DIS over the years and started chatting. A LOT. We’ve chatted our way through 12 threads so far.

Over the years, we’ve attempted to catch up in person when our trips have overlapped, and last year we even managed to bring together 40-ish of us, including our family members!

So, it’s a long-standing Focker tradition to meet up for some fun, and this summer was no exception.

We found Angela and her DH Mitch in the GF lobby, as well as T and Andy, T’s brother Rick and his wife Debbie, and Margarita and Jason (friends of LL.) And we all headed off on the monorail to the Outer Rim lounge at the CR.

Angela and T wait for the monorail. Are they READY for fun, or what?!


That’s where we either made or blew the Outer Rim bartender’s night. I’m still not sure which. We ordered a LOT of drinks, so that’s a lot of revenue and tips. But we had like a bazillion discounts and tabs among us, so that seemed to be pretty aggravating to the guy. I don’t get the impression Disney lounges are accustomed to a whole lotta business at once.

While we were ordering, Michelle, matriarch of TheDISneyFamily, and her DH Steve arrived… and our meet was complete! The poor DISneyFamily had only just arrived at WDW and had had a tough journey getting there. I’d like to offer a public THANK YOU for joining us, knowing you must have been exhausted and just wanting to settle in!

Michelle and Steve – “settling in.”

V and Angela – “WHERE are those drinks already?!”

Proving once again that we’re incapable of looking at the same camera at the same time…

MUCH better! Thanks to whomever I snagged it from.


And if that wasn’t enough, Michelle and Steve graciously invited us all up to their villa! They were among the very first guests at Bay Lake Towers (BLT) and they were VERY impressed with it. Not all of us, but quite a few, took up that offer. So picture a trail of Fockers, drinks still in-hand, waltzing down the uber-private, exclusive-to-DVC-members-staying-there, Skywalk to BLT. Niiice.

Me – I was excited to see a BLT villa in-person, but I was more excited to see TheDISneyFamily kids. We’d had sooo much fun hanging with them last Halloween at WDW. Leo wasn’t there, of course, but he’d get to see them later in the trip.

Look at that view!

Told you I was excited to see the kids again. I swear, I’d not even finished one drink!

It was so nice to catch up with TheDISneyFamily. And thank you again for letting us invade your home-away-from home… OMG, it was amazing! I can’t wait to save enough points to stay there in a one-bedroom.









Who am I kidding?! I’ll never save enough points. But I can borrow ‘em.


We did eventually leave TheDISneyFamily to get some much-needed rest. But I have to be honest… MAN, did you miss out!

Continued in next post...

 

[PrincessV]

Our next stop was the Tambu Lounge, site of more than one Focker meet…

Summer 2008

Summer 2007

December 2006


The drink of choice is, of course, the Lapu Lapu. Conveniently served in an unbreakable pineapple. The Tambu bartender seemed a lot more enthusiastic about our presence than his counterpart at the Outer Rim… no doubt encouraged by the steep price of the Lapu Lapu - $16 each, if memory serves.

What $50ish worth of orange juice and rum looks like at Disney.


So, yeah, we settled into the Tambu and made ourselves comfortable. We ordered many drinks amongst us. We laughed, we talked. But here’s where you really missed out Michelle – while we ladies were chit-chatting nicely…

Debbie, V, T, LL, Angela, Margarita




…THIS was going on amongst the men-folk…

Tony, Rick, Jason, Mitch, Andy

OH. MY. HECK. They were freaking hysterical! Really, it was like having a lounge act there. In the lounge. I don’t know what got into those boys, but they’d let loose and tapped into their inner frat-boys.



It was a really, really, really fun night. Thank you all again for being there.

Sadly, our time was up after a round or two and kids were waiting to be sprung from the Club. So, amongst many hugs and goodbyes, we headed back to the GF and grabbed the kids. Who were in no way ready to leave. They sure do like the kids’ clubs!

The not-at-all-like-a-minivan Mominator-mobile brought us safely back to SSR, where the V’s and Mominators went into their rooms and fell fast asleep.











Oh, SNAP.

That was only the V’s.

The Mominators, if you’ll recall with me, had no room keys. No room for you. Come back one year.

I wasn’t there; I only heard about it the next day. And, if she’ll forgive me saying so, LL’s tale of that night was equal parts HIGH-larious and heart-breaking. All I’m saying is this: Michael really should have just bunked with Leo in our room when we got dropped off. The full story involves lost shoes, neck-craning, and, correct me if I’m wrong… singing? Push LL for the story; it’ll knock your socks off.


Next: So long, farewell… and “I’m never speaking to you again!”

 

[askelton]

It was so good to see all of you again! And meet some new people, but the time does go way too quickly. Great pictures, V. I might need to borrow them.

 

[Lauralee131]

OMG - I don't have time to quote, but GREAT job V!!

I don't want to even say much since I'm not caught up yet but what a great look back on such a fun night...Love the pics of the boys...I'll have to see what I've got!!